Leading Cancer Doctor Searches For A Bone Marrow Donor - For His Daughter, 8

A leading cancer consultant is searching for a life-saving bone marrow donor - after his own daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia.

Nadeem Siddiqui is overseeing Ayesha's chemotherapy treatment and says her best chance of recovery from the illness is a bone marrow transplant.

Ayesha was told she had the Philadelphia Positive form of leukaemia last April, and her mixed race heritage means there are fewer potential bone marrow matches.

Nadeem, 50, a consultant at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, said that never in his working life did he imagine he would have a daughter with cancer. "I thought maybe I would get it or my wife, but never Ayesha. The youngest patient I have ever had was 17," he told The Sun.

Nadeem has scaled back his working hours to care for Ayesha at home in Newton Mearns, Glasgow, and said that his daughter is coping well.

"The job is stressful at the best of times. I used to go home to relax, now I go home and give my daughter chemo. She's a little fighter. She deals with everything that's thrown at her."

Nadeem and his wide Noreen, 47, are trying to raise money to enable the Anthony Nolan charity to clear the backlog of 3,150 mixed-race members whose details have not yet been entered on to their system.

Nadeem said: "Ethnic minorities are not as well represented on the register. Ayesha is mixed race, Indian and white British. I thought we won't get them on the register immediately, so now we will raise money as well."

Their efforts have so far meant 400 names have been added to the register.